Dental-cement-injecting tube.



H. L. CRUTTENDEN.

DENTAL CEMENT INJECTING TUBE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. I5. I917.

1 279, 664:. Patented Sept. 24, 1918.

HENRY L. GRUTTENDEN, OF NORTHFIELD, MINNESOTA.

DENTAL-CEMENT-INJECTING TUBE.

Specification of Letters Patent. 7 I

Patented sept'..,24, 1918.

Application filed December 15, 1917. Serial No. 207,238.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY L. CRUTTEN- DEN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Northfield, in the county of Rice and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dental-Cement-Injecting Tubes; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My present invention relates to dental cement injecting tubes of thegeneral character disclosed and claimed in my prior Patent #7 16,67 7,of date, December 23rd, 1902, and subsequent Patent #749,846, of date, Januar 19,1904.

articularly, the present invention is in the nature of an improvement onthe tube disclosed and claimed in my said Patent 749,846. The said tubehas been put on the market in large quantities and has hitherto beenmade of. uncolored gelatin, and hence, almost perfectly transparent. Thetransparency is desirable to enable the user to determine whether or notthe tube is completely filled with cement and free from air holes.However, this nearly perfect transparency has the disadvantage that whenlaid upon objects of diiferent color, they are not readily visible,because they partake of the color, or rather the color of the supportingobject will be shown through the tubes, which has the eifect of makingthe tubes hard to quickly locate. Inasmuch as a dentist must workrapidly in filling teeth, it is important that the tubes be alwaysdistinctly visible, so that no time will be lost in picking one up whenit is required. I have found that by coloring the large or butt endportion only of the tubes, leaving the main body portion thereof inclear transparent gelatin, all of the good advantages of the previoustransparent tube is retained and the further advantage of greater visualprominence is obtained. I also provide a novel material for coloring thebutt end portions of the tubes in quantities.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention, likecharacters indicate like .parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings, 1

Figure 1 is a side elevation showmg a comvplete tube with a colored buttend and transparent body;

Fig. 2 shows a stack of a supporting needle; and r Fig. 3 is a plan viewshowing a tool which is preferably used in coloring the butt ends of thetubes. 7

The transparent gelatin tube is indicated by the character a and itscolored butt end portion by the character I). v

The numeral 4 indicates a needle, such as a knitting needle, which ispreferably set in an upright position and rigidly secured at its lowerend to a suitable support 5.

The clear or transparent gelatin tubes (1 are telescoped together and,in a stack, inserted onto the needle 4. This operation serves also toopen up the ends of the nipple portions of the tubes. By reference toFig. 2, it will be noted that the tubes of the stack have their endsexposed about 4 inch, the total length of the tool which is just thedesired extent to which the tubes should be colored.

The coloring may be produced in different ways, but preferably, isaccomplished by the tool shown in Fig. 3. This tool comprises a handle 6having an annular clamping head 7, which latter holds an annularcoloring pad 8 of felt or other suitable material. The hole in the pad 8is of such size that the pad can be slipped down over the stack of tubesin close frictional contact therewith. Hence, when this pad 8 issaturated with a suitable coloring material and is forced down over thestack of telescoped tubes, it will color the exposed butt end portionsthereof, all with one operation. Then when the tubes are separated, theywill appear as in Fig. 1. Preferably the extreme upper end tube of thestack will be used over again as a startin tube, because, since itswhole external surface is exposed, it will be colored throughout thegreater portion of its length.

Any suitable coloring material may be used, but preferably, I would usea non-poisonous vegetable coloring matter, such as used in making candyand confections. In practice, I have used a red or carmine color, butany other shade or color may be used. Obviously, by the above describedarrangement, the coloring matter is placed entirely on the exterior ofthe tube leaving the intubes threaded on terior of the tube clean andfree therefrom. This is important, inasmuch as coloring matter on theinterior of the tube may introduce impurities into the cement Whichwould be, p

' of said tubes and leaving the main body porthereby, carried'intothe'tooth cavity;

What I claim is:

1. A collapsible dental cementinjecting tube haying alarge open end andan attenuated discharge nipple at its other end, said tube being ofcollapsibleitransparentniuaterial but having a colored end portion.

' 2. Theprocess ofscoloringzdental cement injecting tubes of thecharacter-described,

*butt endportions exposed, and-in thereafter coloring the said exposedbutt ends, thereby forming colored bands around the butt ends tionsthereof 'nncolored.

In testimony whereof I affix my slgnature in presence of two Witnesses.

HENRY L. CRUTTENDEN.

WVitnesses:

ELsm GI-IAMBERLIN, S. HMSZZEOVER.

30);" of this patentzmibombmnea-ton 1m fitntiflbifih by addressing;thwiflommissioner 10,1 iatents. iwnhington b. 0.

